“I think it’s likely that Starboard will get a majority,” said B. Espen Eckbo, who founded the Lindenauer Center for Corporate Governance at Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business, echoing the sentiment of several Wall Street analysts who cover the company best known for its Olive Garden chain.

Oct 8 (Reuters) – Yum Brands Inc said on Wednesday
it expects China sales to bounce back strongly in 2015, but
cautioned that it likely faces a bumpy, multi-month recovery
from a recent supplier scandal that scared away diners in its
most important market.

Sales at established KFC and Pizza Hut restaurants in China
should improve during the current fourth quarter, but will still
be down year-over-year and batter 2014 earnings, Yum executives
said on a conference call with analysts.

Oct 7 (Reuters) – Yum Brands Inc, operator of KFC
and other restaurant chains, on Tuesday lowered its 2014
earnings forecast after same-store sales fell 14 percent in
China in the third quarter due to a food safety scare.

Sales in China, Yum’s No. 1 market for revenue and profit,
are expected to fall again in the fourth quarter at established
restaurants on continued fallout from allegations that a former
supplier used expired meat.

LOS ANGELES, Sept 30 (Reuters) – While the U.S. restaurant
industry fights national and state efforts to increase the
minimum wage, a new survey released on Tuesday showed that 83
percent of restaurant patrons support raising it and adjusting
it annually for inflation.

The results come as two years of union-backed protests by
fast-food workers have put a spotlight on the plight of the
working poor and helped fuel a debate about the federal minimum
wage, which has been $7.25 since 2009.

In an unusual move late on Thursday, smaller firm Egan-Jones Proxy Services temporarily withdrew its recommendation that shareholders vote for the eight director nominees put up by Darden, which is leaving spots open for Starboard candidates.

Choi, 44, spent his youth wandering and eating his way
through L.A.’s ethnic neighborhoods. Classical training at the
Culinary Institute of America in New York ended a streak of
partying and gambling. Success came quickly, with stints in
kitchens from New York’s celebrated Le Bernardin to the Beverly
Hilton in Los Angeles.

Starboard, one of Darden’s largest investors with an 8.8 percent stake, late on Thursday unveiled a 294-slide proposal that included plans to sell Darden’s real estate, franchise its restaurants, spin off The Capital Grille, Yard House and other chains and fix the flagship Olive Garden chain.